I came upon an astonishing statistic the other day. It claimed that professionals spend 51% of their time managing information instead of acting on it – reinforcing the fact that decision makers are dealing with information overload day in and day out. The challenge, of course, for those of us who work in communications or marketing is to have our content heard over all the other messages out there.
Some companies, which are focused on marketing in a B2B business environment have embraced new technology and are applying its use in unique ways. Visual content marketing has taken hold and I can tell you if you use a computer, you’ve experienced it. Visual content marketing is essentially a way of presenting information using visual imagery – not as the only means – but as the primary means of communicating.
Visual content marketing is being used in the form of storyboarding (which resembles a comic strip), video, photos, infographics and visual note taking (which is a form of mind mapping). Websites like Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, and SlideShare – to name just a few – are the platforms upon which messages and content are being applied to multi-faceted marketing programs.
When you go ‘visual’, there are a few things to consider in your approach:
- First and foremost, ensure you have a compelling story to tell. Your story should be factual. It should aim to solve a specific problem for a particular client or industry. And, finally, people should be able to relate to your story; your message should resonate for them.
- Be prepared to distribute and manage your content on multiple channels. Gone are the days when you could print a brochure and be done with it. Plan ahead for how you will manage a multi-faceted marketing program, which approach you will take, and how you will target various messages for specific audiences.
- Potential clients want to know how your company can help solve their business problems without the strong sales pitch, so be cognizant of how you present editorial content versus branding content.
51%… that’s an awfully high percentage of time spent managing information that may or may not matter to the business decision at hand! Help your business and, by extension your clients by adding some visual content into your marketing mix. The aim should be to create a multi-faceted program that educates and motivates.
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